KL team shows interest in ICT investments

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KL TEAM

Newly-elected president of the Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) Syed Moazzam Hossain welcomed a 10-member business delegation from Malaysia led by Dato’ Tan Seng Sung of TC Management Service Corporation in BMCCI Office here.
Moazzam Hossain initiated the discussion and briefed the forthcoming plan of activities of the BMCCI, reports BSS.
Highlighting the business scenario between Bangladesh and Malaysia, he emphasised potential trade and investment in Bangladesh in different sectors.
Dato’ Tan Seng Sung briefed about the objectives of their visit and said they were interested in investing in solar development projects, ICT, franchising e-garage, assembling of truck and bus.
The investors are also considering ventures into agro-processing products.
BMCCI president said that the government has a plan to go for 2,400 MW power generation for renewable energy and solar in 2021 in renewable energy sector.
Mr Hossain said state-run Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) along with the BMCCI was going to organise the ICT Showcase in April next in Kuala Lumpur.
“The government is going to set up an IT park in every corner of the country to utilise its huge ICT trained-manpower,” he said, adding that Malaysia can be a good partner with Bangladesh in ICT or IOT sector.
During its tour, the Malaysian delegation will visit BIDA, Ministry of Energy, Bangladesh Power Development Board, Power Cell, Sustainable Renewable Energy Development Board (SREDA), Bangladesh Agro Processing Association (BAPA), and CPA.

BMCCI plans to hold trade summit in KL

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Dhaka, Jan 4 (UNB) – Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI) is on a move to organise ‘Bangladesh Trade and Investment Summit’ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March to boost Malaysian investment in Bangladesh and bridge the trade gap between the two countries.

Newly elected members of the Board of Directors of Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI), led by its President Syed Moazzam Hossain, met Executive Chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Kazi M Aminul Islam here on Thursday and discussed the plan.

The BMCCI President informed that the Bangladesh High Commission in Malaysia is going to organise Bangladesh Festival during 22-23 March, 2018.

In conjunction with this, the BMCCI wants to arrange Bangladesh Trade & Investment Summit in cooperation with Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA).

Syed Moazzam in a memorandum submitted to the Executive Chairman mentioned that Bangladesh considers Malaysia as one of the major sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

“Malaysia is also one of the largest investors in Bangladesh,” he said adding that Bangladesh significantly lags behind in export, which has widened the trade gap between the two brotherly countries.

Syed Moazzam said further steps are essentially needed by encouraging more exports from Bangladesh to Malaysia to reduce this trade gap.

He said ‘economic diplomacy’ is a must to increase trade and investment between the two countries leading to the relocation of Malaysian Sunset Industries to Bangladesh taking advantage of cost-effective production and export to other developing and developed nations.

The BMCCI chief said Bangladesh will be greatly benefited with the job opportunities it will create improving the economy and standard of living of the nation.

The Executive Chairman gave a patience hearing and assured the delegation of providing all possible support to increase Bangladesh’s export to Malaysia as well as attract investment to Bangladesh.

He thanked the BMCCI leaders for their appreciable role in promoting bilateral trade relation between Bangladesh and Malaysia, and assured them of his organisation’s all-out support to all BMCCI activities.

Deputy Director Md Shah Alam from BIDA and BMCCI Vice President Raquib Mohammad Fakhrul, Secretary General Shabbir Ahmed Khan, Director Md Abul Hossain and Secretary Hasanur Rahman Chowdhury were, among others, present at the meeting.

Ecnec approves 16 projects involving Tk 15,969 cr

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The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved a total of projects, including 15 new ones, involving an estimated cost of Tk 15,969.24 crore.
The approval came from the regular weekly meeting of Ecnec held at the NEC conference room here with Ecnec Chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said, “A total of 10 projects were approved today and Tk 15,969.24 crore will be required to implement those as per the initial estimate.”

The three biggest schemes are Mymensingh Region Rural Infrastructure Development Project involving the initial cost of Tk 3,183.56 crore, Rangpur Division Rural Infrastructure Development Phase-II Project involving estimated cost of Tk 2,884.86 crore, and the Project of the Existing Polytechnic Institutions’ Infrastructure Development for Creating Admission Scope for More Students, involving an initial expenditure of Tk 2,561.92 crore.

The Planning Minister said the Mymensingh Region Rural Infrastructure Development Project will be implemented to repair roads, including the flood-damaged ones, in six districts of Mymensingh region from October 2017 to June 2022.

He said the Rangpur Division Rural Infrastructure Development Phase-II Project will also be implemented at the same time in eight districts of Rangpur Division.unb

Apparel exports saved by sturdy dollar

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The favourable US dollar-taka exchange rate has lent a helping hand to apparel exporters in the outgoing calendar year, cushioning the fallout from the uncertain political climate in the Western world. In the first 11 months of 2017, Bangladesh exported garment items worth $26.40 billion, up 1.38 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Export Promotion Bureau.
At the start of the year, the greenback traded between Tk 78 and Tk 79 and during the course of the year it crawled up. On December 20, it traded at Tk 83.20. “The current exchange rate is favourable for exporters. We should handle the exchange rate softly,” said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh. He went on to suggest that the dollar can be allowed to appreciate to up to Tk 85.

If it goes past the Tk 85-mark, it will be bad for the balance of payment and macroeconomic stability as imports would become costlier. However, exporters want further devaluation of the local currency. “The exchange rate has only started becoming export-friendly,” said Faruque Hassan, managing director of Giant Apparels, a leading garment exporter.
The local currency should be devalued further against the dollar to Compensate for the rising cost of production such that exporters can continue to be competitive on the global stage. At least 10 percent devaluation of the currency is fine for the sector as garment exporters have faced low exchange rate over the last five years, he added.

“The exchange rate is still not up to the mark when compared with our competing countries like India and Turkey,” said Abdus Salam Murshedy, managing director of Envoy Group, another major garment exporter.

Apart from the favourable exchange rate, the rising shipment of value-added items, brighter image of Bangladesh’s garment sector after remediation works, relative political calm and automation of production also helped prop up garment exports in 2017. “The outgoing year was good for us,” Murshedy said, adding that the absence of any major untoward incident like labour or political unrest was a boon for the apparel exporters.

Garment exporters are cautiously optimistic about the new year as the country’s apparel sector is on a strong footing following the thumbs-up from the Accord and Alliance, the two foreign factory inspection agencies.

Nearly 80 percent of the remediation works to fix electrical, fire and structural flaws have been completed.

“After the inspection and remediation, our capacity has been internationally recognised. We are hoping for better business opportunities after this,” Murshedy said. Besides, the economies of major export destinations are rebounding gradually from the shocks of Brexit and general elections in many EU countries, he said.

Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, forecasts that export receipts will be about 10 percent higher next year.

“Ideally, it should be more than 15 percent given the current capacity of the factories.”

However, for achieving higher export growth the government should give the highest priority to addressing issues like congestions in the premier port in Chittagong, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Benapole land port to shorten the lead-time, he said.

Adequate power and energy should be ensured and the infrastructures, especially the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, must be enhanced.
The exporters see the political instability as a major challenge in the new year as the general election is due to be held at the end of next year or in early 2019. “We expect there will not be any political instability — we hope the political leaders will give priority to a stable export growth for the sake of the country.”

A good number of new factories will come into operation next year as entrepreneurs are putting in money in the sector targeting the shifted work orders from China, the largest garment exporter worldwide.

ETHICS AND TRUST IN A DIGITAL AGE

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Early in 2017, ACCA carried out global surveys of attitudes to ethics among 10,000 professional and trainee accountants, and of those of over 500 senior (‘C-suite’) managers. More than 8 in 10 of these accountants around the world were of the view that strong ethical principles and behaviour will become even more important in the evolving digital age. This view was echoed by a similar proportion of C-suite1 executives, referring to the accountants in their organisations.

Furthermore, 9 in 10 professional accountants agree that ethical behaviour helps to build trust in the digital age. And almost all (95%) C-suite executives think that the accountant’s ethical behaviour helps the organisation build trust with internal and external stakeholders.

In order to lend specificity to the analysis of ethics in a digital environment, ethical aspects were identified across six digital themes. These themes were cybersecurity; platform-based business models; big data and analytics; cryptocurrencies and distributed ledgers; automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning; and procurement of technology. The observations are informed by discussions with senior finance professionals, typically at the level of CFO, partner or equivalent.

In the context of these digital themes, the IESBA fundamental principle which emerged most frequently as being at risk of compromise was professional competence and due care. This may be a reflection of the extent to which work situations in a digital age can present new information with ethical aspects that have not been seen before.

Looking ahead, it seems likely that risks of ethical compromises go way beyond issues of honest and straightforward professional and business relationships (integrity). For instance, it is difficult to apply ethical judgement to the use of distributed ledgers without a sufficient understanding of what they are.

The professional accountant of the future will need, in addition to technical capability, a rounded skill set that demonstrates key quotients for success in areas such as experience, intelligence, creativity, digital skills, emotional intelligence and vision. And at the heart of these lies the ethical quotient.

Political uncertainty looms over 2018

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Political uncertainty over upcoming national election, its effect on private investment, rising food inflation, sluggish exports and remittance, and a lack of corporate governance in banks are the key challenges Bangladesh will face in 2018, said a think-tank yesterday.

The Dhaka-based South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (Sanem) mentioned the challenges and reflected on the performance of Bangladesh’s economy until the end of 2017 in its quarterly review. Selim Raihan, executive director of the research organisation, presented a keynote on the economy’s condition at a programme at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka.

It said the business-as-usual scenario would not help when it comes to generating productive employment, making growth inclusive, accelerating reduction in poverty rate, developing human capital and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The government should prioritise education, health and social sector investment, speedy implementation of infrastructure projects within justified cost estimates, and reform measures with respect to trade, industrial and macro policies and institutions, it said.

The think-tank said a rising economic growth rate since 2012-13 has been largely driven by government expenditure. But sluggish private investment and rise in public investment continued.

The share of public investment was one-fourth of the total investment in 2016-17 from 16.5 percent in 2008-09.

“Stimulating the private sector investment still remains a big challenge,” the report said.

The country witnessed a falling growth rate in exports until 2016-17. However, it grew 6.86 percent year-on year in the July-November period of the current fiscal year. The prospect of rising export growth in 2018 depends on both domestic and external factors.

On the domestic front, there are problems of policy-induced and supply-side constraints.

According to Sanem, the real effective exchange rate (REER) is still highly appreciated compared to the country’s competitors. Between 2012 and 2016, the REER of Bangladesh with respect to US dollar appreciated 22.3 percent. “Further adjustment in the nominal exchange rate will be obvious given the scenario of high import demand and slowdown in export and remittance growth.”

However, mere devaluation of the nominal exchange rate will not be enough for getting the REER right, said Sanem in the report.

“There is a need for necessary measures for export growth by addressing the domestic competitiveness issues as well as for product and market diversification.” Bangladesh witnessed a falling growth rate in remittance until 2016-17. However, in July-November, it grew 10.10 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

According to the World Bank’s recent projection, remittances to low and middle-income countries are on course to recover after two consecutive years of decline.

“This means that there is a brighter prospect for Bangladesh in 2018,” said Sanem. The think-tank also touched upon the rice price situation.

There has been a surge in import of rice in recent months. Import of rice amounted to only Tk 35.70 crore in July-September of 2016-17 compared to Tk 2,912.1 crore in the same period of the current fiscal year.

In the first three months of 2017-18, rice import was five times that in the same period a year ago. “Rice prices are still high and on the rise despite imports.” Using a computable general equilibrium model, it found a 35 percent increase in the price of rice and the results show that poverty rate may go up 0.32 percentage points due to the rice price rise this year.

Sanem suggested a “rice policy” with respect to production, import, supply management and strategic agreements with rice exporting countries. On poverty situation, the report said the annual reduction in overall poverty rate was 1.8 percentage points in 2000-2005, which declined to 1.7 percentage points during 2005-2010, and further fell to 1.2 percentage points during 2010-2016.

The most alarming trend is that, while the annual reduction in extreme poverty rate was 1.8 percentage points during 2000-2005, it declined to 1.5 percentage points in 2005-2010 and 0.8 percentage points in 2010-2016. “This suggests that the scope and success in reducing overall and extreme poverty rates in Bangladesh have become limited in recent years.”

With the business-as-usual growth rate of GDP, Bangladesh will have an overall and extreme poverty rate of about 10 percent and 4 percent respectively by 2030, according to Sanem’s estimates. Even with an accelerated average economic growth rate of 8 percent, overall and extreme poverty rates will be around 6.5 percent and 2 percent respectively by 2030.

Despite accelerated economic growth in recent years, there has been much slower progress in poverty reduction because of slow employment generation, poor public spending on education and health and growing inequality. The research organisation was concerned about the scams in the banking sector and a rise in nonperforming loans. “These are reflections of weak regulation, political patronage, and a lack of vision.”

The Banking Companies (Amendment) Act-2017, which has allowed up to four family members to be in a bank’s board of directors for nine consecutive years, will increase the fragility of the banking sector further. “There is a need for a political will, proper regulation, empowering Bangladesh Bank, and speedy trial of the financial crimes.”

Chinese firm to set up mobile assembly plant

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Chinese mobile phone maker Transsion Holdings is set to establish a device assembling plant in Bangladesh over the next few months, making it the first foreign brand to do so.

The government has slashed the customs duty for mobile components meant for local assembling by 36 percentage points to 1 percent in the last budget, which has piqued the interest of many local and global players. At the same time, the government doubled the customs duty on handset import to 10 percent, which made Transsion’s decision to set up the assembling plant easier, said Rezwanul Haque, chief executive officer of Transsion Bangladesh. Transsion has targeted to market its locally-assembled devices — both smart and feature phones — from the second quarter of next year, he said. It has completed all planning, with commercial assembling scheduled to start in the middle of next year.


“This can encourage the other global brands to come here and set up plants,” he said, while declining to disclose Transsion’s planned investment on the plant.

As of now, local brand Walton is marketing its locally-assembled devices, while local ICT service provider Aamra has announced plans to set up a mobile assembling plant. “Our first target is to cater to the local market and then will plan about the export market,” said Haque, who is the immediate past general secretary of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers’ Association. Transsion’s assembly plant, which will be located in Gazipur, will look to pull together 5 lakh units per month with its 1,000 member-strong workforce. The company will file its application for the assembly plant with the telecom regulator in the first week of January.

“Before filing the application, we will make sure that all the requirements are fulfilled,” Haque said, adding that he is happy with the arrangements so far. At present, Transsion has presence in 58 countries in the world and is running three factories outside of China: India, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

In 2016, 3.12 crore units of handsets worth Tk 8,000 crore were imported.

Immediate reforms imperative to discipline banking system

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Alarm bells rang louder Saturday from economists’ meet for immediate reform to restore discipline in Bangladesh’s banking system, seen largely ridden with irregularities.

Financial-market analysts made the clarion call for urgent action specifically to stem the tide of non-performing loans and other forms of fraudulence and safeguard clientele interests.

On a note of concern over present lending arrangements in the banking system, they said nearly half the banks of the country would face closure if the process of approving loans and disbursement were audited accordingly. They also suggested strict screening of investment by banks through further empowering the regulator and expansion of investment in green and social sector to ensure sustainable banking.

The suggestions and observations came in a plenary session titled ‘Economics and Ethics: Banking Issues’ on the final day of the three-day-long BEA (Bangladesh Economic Association) 20th Biennial Conference 2017.

Presenting a paper on ‘Ethical Banking: Bangladesh Perspectives’, BB Deputy General Manager Md. Golzare Nabi said though Bangladeshi banks attained immense success in credit delivery, but, at the same time, risks intensified.

He noted that bank-loan concentration in trading sector is about 35 per cent while a small portion (around 6 per cent) of investment goes to social sectors like agriculture, poverty alleviation, education and health. It’s “not a good sign”.

At the same time, he said, existence of 10 percent non-performing loans (NPLs) remains a great concern for all stakeholders. The NPL size is much higher than that of India (4.34 per cent), Thailand (2.88 per cent), the Philippines (1.95 per cent), China (1.74 per cent), Malaysia (1.65 per cent) and Hong Kong (0.9 per cent). “The banks must comply with all laws, rules and regulations and ensure fair and equitable treatment to all stakeholders, disclosing full information on financial health,” he told the meet.

Partha Sarathee Ghosh, Senior Executive Officer of United Commercial Bank (UCB), said in order to repair the damage and mistrust cultivated in the years leading up to the crush, the banking industry as a whole must reform.

“Now it is the time for all banks to rise to the occasion and consider a more sustainable approach to banking. If we all viewed money as a tool for enhancing society rather than purely for maximizing profits, it would go a long way to restoring the industry’s image,” he added.

Moderating the programme, eminent economist and former Chairman of the Department of Economics of Chittagong University Dr. M. Sekandar Khan said the story of the banks would be different if the bank authorities maintained ethics in their operations.

Citing media reports, he said half of the country’s banks would not be in a position to continue their operations if their functioning were audited properly.

“The banks are still influencing the auditors. They are trying to cover up their liabilities by various means, and such acts of a few banks got exposed,” the Economics professor told the audience.

Professor Khan went on: “It is a matter of great concern for us when we saw that ethics of economics are applied in unethical ways.”

About bad loans, Executive Vice President of EXIM Bank S.M. Abu Zaker said the main reason for the growing NPLs is the conventional banks cannot ensure the purpose of the loan but the situation is different in the Islamic banking system.

“Islami banks are called asset bank financing. Such banks will not release fund unless ensuring assets of the loanee,” he said.

In the non-Islamic banking system, he explained, the loan-seekers can withdraw maximum cash worth Tk 50 million at any time by placing OD (overdraft) facility. “But there is no scope of the bank to check where the fund is used accordingly, intensifying the risk of bad loans.”

Talking about stock-market scenario, Md. Toufique Hossain, Lecturer at the Department of Business Administration of Royal University of Dhaka, said there were two reasons behind the latest share-market debacle of 2010. One is banks’ overexposure to the capital market and the other market was excessively dependent on the banks.

Since then, he mentioned, the central bank has set banks’ exposure limit to the share market at 25 per cent but recent data as of August 2017 showed exposure limit of some banks reached 26 per cent, which is not a good signal for the market.

Mr. Hossain called upon the regulator to take care of the matter immediately before things go out of reach.

Md. Liakat Hossain Moral, General Manager of Bangladesh Krishi Bank that invested the highest 30 per cent of their capital in rural areas, said they provided loans at 9.0 percent interest while their cost of fund is 10 per cent.

“So, the gap needs to be fulfilled by government subsidy because it ensures sustainable financing in the rural areas. That’s why we’re a losing concern,” he added.

The three-day biennial conference of the BEA came to an end in the afternoon with remarks by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Advocate Md. Fazle Rabbi Miah who put emphasis on practice of ethics to make a sustainably developed Bangladesh.

BD, Bhutan bid for free trade

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Bangladesh and Bhutan initiated negotiations for free trade and transit under bilateral arrangements to augment paltry business transactions between the two countries.

Meanwhile, a four-nation sub-regional connectivity deal has been stalled for not being ratified by the upper chamber of Bhutan’s parliament.

Sources said the two neighbours opted for negotiation towards signing a preferential trade agreement (PTA) or free-trade agreement (FTA) to tap the potential of boosting the two-way trade.

Both the countries agreed to start the talks in their 6th commerce secretary- level bilateral meeting held on December 21-22 in Cox’s Bazar.

Commerce secretary Shubhashish Bose led the 11-member host side while economic affairs secretary of Bhutan Dasho Yeshi Wangdi led their delegation.

Following proposals from the Bangladesh side, the counterpart said a study on the PTA is under way that would require some more time to shape up the deal.

Talking to the FE Saturday, Mohammad Ehteshamul Hoque, first secretary for customs modernisation and international affairs, said Bangladesh offers duty-free market access for some 18 Bhutanese products unilaterally.

“We would be able to enjoy duty-free facility on import of some products after PTA or FTA is signed between the countries,” said Mr Hoque, who attended the meeting.

However, Bangladesh declined to allow duty-free access for additional 16 products as proposed by Bhutan at the bilateral trade talks, he said.

Bangladesh as a WTO (World Trade Organisation) member has the responsibility to act as per WTO spirit. But, Bhutan is a non-member country and has no obligation to comply with the WTO rules, he pointed out.

Dhaka is not always encouraged to provide preferential market access without any appropriate trading platform, he said.

He mentioned that it was agreed at the meeting to allow duty-free access of limestone powder from Bhutan.

“It was a long-cherished demand of Bhutan. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will issue a Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) in this regard shortly,” he said.

Despite excellent bilateral relations, trade volume between the two countries is still low. The total annual trade value between the two countries remains about US$ 36 million, with trade limited to only a few products that deserve to be enlarged.

The Bhutanese delegation highlighted the importance of finalising the Agreement on Transit and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the ‘Use of Inland Waterways’ within the shortest possible time.

They focused on those as crucial to furthering bilateral trade and transit facilities between the two countries.

If Bangladesh hosted a joint technical committee (JTC) it could conduct field visit to indentify water routes and port facilities and Bangladesh’s experience and expertise in such area, the Bhutanese team of negotiators said.

In the meeting, the visiting side proposed specific plan of actions to implement MoU between Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) and Bhutan Standards Bureau (BSB) for standardisation, conformity assessment and exemption of taxes.

Bangladesh suggested that Bhutan forward the proposals through the diplomatic channel for consideration and implementation.

The proposed plan of actions could be expanded to include accreditation and testing involving the Bangladesh accreditation board (BAB) and its accredited private testing institutions in Bangladesh.

Both the sides also expressed hope for resolving pending issues like bank guarantee and clause on entry and validity of the agreement for finalizing transit agreement and related draft protocol to the transit agreement.

On the unfinished Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement (BBIN-MVA), the Bhutanese side once again conveyed its negative position as its Upper House of Parliament declined to ratify it.

Regarding agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion in respect of taxes on income, the Bhutanese delegation said it was also yet to be ratified by its upper house of parliament although Bangladesh side informed about its full preparedness on the agreement.

The two sides also discussed allowing longer time for business travelers from Bangladesh, making Tamabil land customs station more vibrant, export of quartzite from Bhutan, exchange of information relating to bilateral trade and investment, cooperation between trade associations, enhancing cooperation in tourism sector and the like.

WB gives $150m to help upgrade 4 land ports

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Bangladesh signed a $150 million financing agreement with World Bank to modernisetrade related infrastructure, systems and procedures.

The government will set up a National Single Window, which will allow traders to submit all import, export and transit information required by customs and other key regulatory agencies via a single electronic gateway under a WB-financed project.

“This will facilitate faster and more transparent international trade procedures and reduce transaction time and cost for the private sector,” said a WB statement.

These improvements will help Bangladesh strengthen regional connectivity and boost trade with India, Bhutan and Nepal, according to the WB.

With the loan, four land ports — Bhomra, Sheola, Ramgarh and Benapole — will be developed and improved under Bangladesh Regional Connectivity Project 1, the statement said.

The WB said these land ports were key to facilitating regional and transit trade, especially with India. These improvements would help Bangladesh increase trade and freight volumes and reduce truck clearance time at border posts.

Truck clearance time at the Bhomra land port will be reduced by 83 percent, from 72 hours to 12 hours.

Kazi Shofiqul Azam, secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), and Qimiao Fan, WB country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, signed the agreement at the ERD.

The credit is from International Development Association, WB’s concessional lending arm. The loan is interest-free and repayable in 38 years, including a six-year grace period, and carries a service charge of 0.75 percent.

“Bangladesh has enormous potential for increasing trade with its neighbours, particularly India. Currently, its trade with India is only less than half of its current potential,” said Fan.

“By addressing the key barriers to trade, especially transport and clearance delays, Bangladesh can become more competitive regionally and globally, and reach more emerging and dynamic markets with diversified product mix, including higher-value garments.”

Azam said: “Bangladesh has doubled its market share in global exports between 1995 and 2012, and more than doubled the value of shipment in the last five years. But the potential is much higher.”

Geographically, Bangladesh can play an important role in regional trade and logistics networks, and as a transit country in South Asia. The project will help Bangladesh take advantage of its strategic location in increasing exports and lower import costs, he said.

The WB said the project would pilot activities to help remove bottlenecks faced by women in trade and business.